“Hurricane Florence has deeply wounded our state, wounds that will not fade soon as the floodwaters finally recede,” he said.

While three safe routes have been established in Wilmington, North Carolina, where Florence’s floodwaters made the city largely inaccessible, some roads, homes, and businesses are still flooded – and nearby waterways are expected to surge despite flooding subsiding in some areas, The News & Observer reported.

Steve Pfaff, a Wilmington-based meteorologist with the National Weather Service, told the The News & Observer that the slowly exiting floodwaters in eastern North Carolina will result in a “wave down the Cape Fear over the next few days.”

But the Cape Fear River isn’t the only troubled waterway – the Black, Lumber, Neuse, and Trent rivers continue to overflow, flooding nine counties in southeastern North Carolina, according to officials. The Neuse River reached 17.9 feet on Saturday, and the Lumber River is expected to hit 24 feet on Sunday.

The problem is expected to hit its worst point between Sunday and Tuesday, reports The News & Observer.

One local told the The News & Observer that during the storm, waters rose higher than he’d ever seen in Wilmington. Some reports suggest Hurricane Florence was the worst flooding event in East Coast history.

South Carolina has also ordered evacuations as waters rise, the Associated Press reported Saturday.

Mayor Lawson Bitter told the AP that Nichols, South Carolina was completely inundated by water, with more than 150 homes destroyed from flooding. South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster estimated flood damage in South Carolina to be $US1.2 billion.